The Women Installers Together event will this year move to a bigger venue, taking place on 1 July in The Great Hall at London Met University.
Already confirmed speakers are Hattie Hasan MBE, founder of the event and Bonita Norris, the youngest woman to climb Everest.
WIT 2020 is run by Stopcocks Women Plumbers with event partners Polypipe Trade, while Monument Tools are again sponsoring the venue and food for all delegates. Graham the Plumbers’ Merchant, Vaillant and Fernox have also re-committed support.
Hattie said: “We’re really delighted the event is growing every year. With the average age of plumbers 57.5 the workforce is going to reduce drastically in a few years. Women are very keen to come into it. This needs to be encouraged by all sectors of the industry by showing them how welcome they are. We sincerely believe that the changes that will attract more women will also attract more men into heating and plumbing, that’s good for everyone.”
Last year all delegates enthusiastically participated in roundtable discussions which revealed how prevalent discouraging girls and women from joining the industry is, both within it and externally “Some stories were really quite disturbing,” said Mica May, Stopcocks development director and organiser of the event. “The determination of the women plumbers and engineers and what many of them have overcome is genuinely inspirational and most of them just brush it off.”
This year a small attendance fee will be charged to companies wishing to improve the representation of women in their businesses to come along, learn and meet potential employees.